Podcasts Solidarity Bankers: episode N.2

Interview with Andreas BRUNNER, Inspection Supervisor, Amundi
By: Mireille de Kerleau, Internal Communication Manager, CACEIS

Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees in favour of microfinance institutions and impact businesses supported by the Foundation. Discover the 2nd episode of the series of podcasts dedicated to Solidarity Bankers, the skills volunteering scheme run by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Credit Agricole SA. The first episode covered Carolina Viguet, Communications and partnership Director of the Foundation and co-initiator of this programme. Today we have the pleasure of welcoming Andreas Brunner, Inspection Supervisor at Amundi in Paris. Andreas is a Solidarity Banker. He carried out a field missions for OXUS Kyrgyzstan in October 2021, when he worked at Credit Agricole Assurances.

First, some financial data concerning Kyrgyizstan. It is a former republic of the USSR and one of the poorest countries of Central Asia. With more than 12% of its GDP dedicated to the agricultural sector and a strong dependence on mining, the Kyrgyz economy is not very diversified and relies largely on money transfers from abroad. Although significant progress has been made in recent years in terms of financial inclusion, according to the latest figures available, barely 40% of the population over the age of 15 has an account with a formal financial institution. Microfinance institutions are trying to make up for these lack of progress by targeting rural populations excluded from the traditional banking sector, institutions like OXUS Kyrgyzstan, which Andreas supported in 2021 as part of a Solidarity Bankers mission.

Can you, Andreas, tell us about the institution and the objective of your mission?

Yes of course. OXUS Kyrgyzstan is a microfinance institution with approximately 10,000 clients. It operates in the various regions of the country, through a network of about fifteen agencies. It employs 130 people with about 30 people at the headquarters in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Regarding the mission, there were two objectives. The first is to establish a marketing plan for the year 2022 and also a loyalty programme for their customers.

Going back a bit, how did you hear about the mission and what prompted you to apply for it?

It is a while ago now. In 2019, I had the chance to meet a former Solidarity Banker who told me about his own mission and told me that there were going to be other missions offered by Grameen. He told me about his own experience and I told him that I was also interested too. So I contacted the Grameen Foundation which had, at that time, several missions to offer. I looked at the terms of reference, we call it, it is a small description of what had to be done. And I immediately said, ok I’m interested and, in addition, it’s in a country in Central Asia that I absolutely did not know. It was therefore a good opportunity to go and help this entity, to immerse myself in the subject of microfinance, and at the same time, discover another country.

After that, you were selected. How was the preparation stage of the mission and the in-the-field part of the mission?

I had a few interviews before being selected and selection was not at all a certainty because it is true that there were other people who also wanted to do this mission. Once selected, I was really happy. I was supposed to leave at the beginning of 2020 but you all know what happened afterwards, so I could not leave in March. I left only at the end of 2021 but the preparation yes…. First of all, I did not know about microfinance at all. I had to make some research by myself, I had to read. There were a lot of elements on internet to understand the challenges of microfinance. Of course, there is aid for financial inclusion, that is kind of the overall objective, and then you had to understand how it works, how credits are distributed to people who need them. And then, the mission itself. It was also necessary to prepare it, therefore to understand the entity. I asked them to send me a certain number of documents so that I could learn about the entity, its operation, its positioning, its products, its customers, etc. I analysed all that and defined a work plan. I also defined a consulting approach, which was my consulting approach with this entity. Then I presented that and I did more research again before leaving.

How was your arrival in the country and the meetings? How was the mission on the ground?

Little anecdote: arriving at 2 am after a 12-hour flight, with a short stop-over in Turkey, I finally arrived quite tired and, a great surprise, normally there should have been a driver so I was a little worried because I didn’t see anyone. But it was the general manager himself who came to pick me up at the airport. Already, with this reception, I think we got off to a good start with a two-week collaboration and I was in good hands.

We started the mission the same day after a little rest at the hotel. The first week passed very quickly. There were a number of interviews that were already scheduled. I met the various directors, the financial director, the commercial director, a person in charge of marketing, so I was able to learn about a certain number of elements. I was able to ask all my questions that I needed to establish a structured document on the marketing approach that I wanted to bring to this entity. So the field mission is above all a lot of interviews, it is also a bit of evening work to put it all on paper, to draft a deliverable, several deliverables for that matter.

As I said before, there were two objectives. The first objective was to build a marketing plan and the second a loyalty approach, a loyalty programme. So there were two key deliverables. These deliverables had to be built, produced. I built them in English. At the end of the first week, I presented my first learnings by saying I am working on this. Is it ok with you, are we going in the right direction? They were very happy with it and it needed to be refined in the second week.

The question we ask ourselves when we listen at you is that we wonder how the exchanges went with the people working at the institution and the customers, knowing that the language and the culture are very different from ours.

Yes, quite! At headquarters, I was lucky to have people who spoke English, so it was easier. On the other hand, the second week I had a few interviews in agencies. I was also able to meet with one or two clients and there, indeed, it is more complicated. Fortunately, a translator accompanied me during these exchanges throughout the day, because even to go to lunch, for example, you had to speak either Russian or Kyrgyz. So luckily, I had this person with me, because otherwise, it is difficult to communicate, and it is also true that the people at headquarters who speak English, even sometimes for them, it was easier to answer to me in Russian and then the person translates. As a result, it added a little time to the exchanges, it was a little slower than during regular communication when you master the language, but it was very very interesting.

So you have travelled a bit around the country. You have been to visit other towns and villages I imagine. Did you have some time to visit this beautiful country?

Yes it is true that the main work was in and around the capital. And between the two weeks of work, I was able to take two days on the weekend to discover the country. There is a very large lake called Issyk-Koul, which is a lake that is almost 200 km long and 60 km wide, so it is almost like a sea.

Is it almost as big as Luxembourg!

These two days I went around the lake. So this huge lake, when you look to the left you see a mountain range, when you look to the right, there is the other mountain range. So it is true that by doing the whole route, quite a small circuit around the lake, I was able to discover this country. I was even able to sleep in a yurt. That, too, is an unforgettable experience. In addition, I met someone who makes the yurts. So he explained to me how it works. There I also had a guide with me. I was able to talk a little bit in Russian too, because I have some basic knowledge of Russian. When I was in high school, I learned a little bit so it was nice to get back into it too. As we said earlier, it is a human experience.

If you wanted to know, what I remember from all this, it is above all also these experiences, these human relationships, these encounters. With the different people, not only through the mission, with the teams, but also with the people we were able to meet over the weekend, spanning the country. Very warm people.

Even without the language, there is always a way to understand each other, with gestures, smiles, expressions, I imagine.

It is true. We were able to do a little local dance one evening in a yurt, in a big yurt by the way. It was the yurt where we had dinner and in fact there were only locals and it was very difficult to be understood but there was the telephone, the applications and we put music on and immediately it gave us confidence and it allowed us to communicate also through music because we found songs that they knew and …

Such a great event! Listening to all this, my last question is, would you go back on a mission? I imagine so…

Absolutely, absolutely, yes. Right away! Maybe not tomorrow because there is quite a bit of preparation involved but anyway yes, with great pleasure. The skills sponsorship is about applying the knowledge we have and sharing it with others and not being paid for it because there, every day, we work, we are paid, it is our job. There, to be able to share it with others is gratifying; it gives meaning to what you do.

Thank you, thank you very much for agreeing to take part in this interview. I, for sure, invite our listeners to the next edition of this podcast series, focusing this time not on one banker, but two, who are currently preparing a remote mission in favour of a microfinance institution in Palestine. Goodbye.

Listen to the podcast here

The SSNUP programme supports cacao cooperatives in Ivory Coast

©Foundation Grameen Crédit Agricole/Philippe Lissac

SSNUP is a programme coordinated by the NGO ADA, whose objective is to increase the productivity of smallholder farmers in Asia, Africa and Latin America through better risk management and the development of sustainable agricultural value chains. Funded by governments of Luxembourg, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the SSNUP aims to improve the living conditions and food security of more than 10 million smallholder producers. The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is one the impact investors in charge of implementing the project.

The producers’ cooperative, a lever for development

In Ivory Coast, where half of the producers of cacao lives below the poverty line, producers’ cooperatives are an important development lever. Beyond the commercial advantage that it offers to producers, cooperatives offer to theirs members services ranging from small equipment input and supply to the improvement of community life through actions such as the establishment of schools and hospitals. However, cooperatives sometimes encounter repayment difficulties of their members and unpaid debts are covered by cooperatives with their own funds, which prevents them from carrying out their social development mission.

This is what Advans Ivory Coast wanted to support since its creation in 2012, by being the first financial institution to give access to input credit to cocoa cooperatives. Advans Ivory Coast’s input credit consists of granting cocoa cooperatives financing that allows them to grant credits to their members for the purchase of fertilizers and crop protection products.

Reinforce the capacities of the cocoa cooperatives in Ivory Coast and its members

Advans Ivory Coast has received a grant of SSNUP to support cocoa cooperatives in improving the level of reimbursement of theirs members. With the funding received, the institution has recruited technical assistance providers to develop input credit management and monitor tools for cooperatives and financial education modules on credit management for smallholder cocoa farmers.

Ultimately, building the capacity of small producers in financial education will help limit the risk management and thus fulfil their role as facilitators on the value chain and carry out their social actions in favour of the community. It will also make it easier for cooperatives to renew their loan from Advans Ivory Coast and for producers to have access to the inputs needed to ensure a good agricultural yield and thus increase their incomes and improve their living conditions. Finally, Advans Ivory Coast will strengthen its risk profile, which will help consolidate existing relationships with its current partners and attract new investors.

The Foundation publishes the 2nd edition of “Taking the Floor”

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The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been promoting financial inclusion and social entrepreneurship for thirteen years now and continues to work in favour of the development of rural areas and female entrepreneurs. At the end of 2021, the Foundation had accumulated nearly €300 million in funding, 379 technical assistance missions in progress or completed and 136 organisations funded.

We are pleased to share with you this second edition of “Taking the floor”. It presents our daily support for entrepreneurs, rural communities, refugees and farmers. Enabling refugees from the Nakivale camp to access credit in Uganda, modernising agricultural practices in Moldova, financing access to water and ensuring the pay of breeders in Senegal, these are some of the actions highlighted in this second edition.

These stories demonstrate the resilience of the microfinance sector, this ability to cope with the health context, the economic difficulties and the effects of global warming. Resilience also refers to the ability to transform obstacles into opportunities to strengthen oneself. The digital transformation, the coordination between stakeholders and the innovation demonstrated by our partners throughout these last difficult months are a clear proof of it.

Download the publication

New Solidarity Bankers mission in Kosovo

©FONDATION GRAMEEN CREDIT AGRICOLE/GODONG

At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A, skills volunteering missions Solidarity Bankers are offered to employees of the Crédit Agricole Group on behalf of organisations supported by the Foundation. A new Solidarity Bankers mission is to be filled in favor of agency for finance (AFK) in Kosovo. The institution was created in the years 2000 and have obtained the status of microfinance institution in 2011.

AFK aims to improve living conditions in Kosovo by providing access to sustainable financial services to small and micro enterprises. As of December 2021, the organisation has 24 branches across Kosovo and 225 employees. It serves 20,733 active borrowers (23% women and 50% in rural areas) and manages a portfolio of 40.2 million euros.

AFK has developed a risk policy focused on credit risk while the other risk areas are managed by each department without a formalized framework. Given its growing size, the institution would like to structure a proper risk management framework to improve identification and analysis of risks, especially operational risks. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting AFK in the diagnosis of the procedure and tools to manage risks and more precisely operational risks.

To discover the details of this mission click here.

How to apply

To apply send your CV as well as one or two paragraphs explaining your motivation and expertise to carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

___________________________________________________________

Created in 2008, under the joint impetus of the directors of Crédit Agricole S.A. and Professor Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship with a social impact. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.

New Solidarity Bankers missions in Cambodia and Kenya

At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A, skills volunteering missions labeled “Solidarity Bankers” are offered to employees of the Crédit Agricole Group on behalf of organisations supported by the Foundation. Two new Solidarity Bankers missions are to be filled in favor of PPSE in Cambodia and ACRE Africa in Kenya. Two new Solidarity Bankers missions are to be filled in favor of PPSE in Cambodia and ACRE Africa in Kenya.

PPSE is a social enterprise that employs young artists from disadvantaged backgrounds to whom it offers career opportunities in circus professions by combining the best of Cambodian cultural traditions and contemporary circus. PPSE extends and amplifies the work of the NGO Phare Ponleu Selpak by offering real career prospects to professional artists from the Phare School, while providing additional financial resources to the NGO.

PPSE now needs to develop and expand its digital community and position its new range of services and activities. The organisation wishes to explore and maximize the use of social and traditional media, train its staff and extend its scope of action as much as possible. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting PPSE, particularly in the diagnosis and implementation of a new marketing and communication strategy.

ACRE Africa is a social enterprise operating in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. The organisation makes agricultural insurance accessible for small farms and for very low insured amounts, thanks to a triple innovation: index insurance; distribution by aggregators; payment by mobile money. ACRE thus enables small farms to access credit on more favorable terms.

After having decided to diversify its activities to offer consulting services, ACRE now needs to expand its clientele and mark its new range of services and activities. The organisation wants to, among other things, explore and maximize the use of social and traditional media, and train its staff. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting ACRE Africa in the diagnosis of the organisation’s marketing and communication strategy and tools in order to propose a new strategy and appropriate tools.

Other missions are still to be filled:

  • Risk and compliance mission on behalf of the microfinance institution SEF (South Africa)
  • Digital strategy mission to support the microfinance institution OXUS Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyzstan)
  • Risk and compliance mission in favour of the microfinance institution Bimas Ltd (Kenya).

HOW TO APPLY

To discover the details of the missions:

  • Go to the CA Solidaires website “Find a project”
  • Enter the search bar: “Grameen”. All the Solidarity Bankers missions will appear!
  • Click on the offer of your choice, you will find all the information you need to apply.

More information: carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

___________________________________________________________

Created in 2008, under the joint impetus of the directors of Crédit Agricole S.A. and Professor Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship with a social impact. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.

The Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation in 2021

Eric Campos, Fondation Grameen Crédit Agricole

In 2021, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation supported 81 microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 37 countries. In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, the Foundation supported its partners with funding and technical assistance. Spotlight on the interview with Eric Campos, Managing Director of the Foundation and CSR Director of Crédit Agricole SA.

How did you support microfinance institutions?

Contrary to what we thought, the entire year of 2021 was marked by the Covid crisis and the economic effects and measures taken by the States to protect the population. The Foundation therefore intervened in three ways with the partners. First, we have maintained a fairly high volume of financing, with 45 million Euros lent to microfinance institutions. We also granted deferrals, to give institutions a break, to allow them to deal with their own deferrals that they granted to their beneficiaries. Finally, we have increased our capacity, our coordination in terms of technical assistance since, and this is a record, we have coordinated 130 technical assistance missions, mainly to support institutions in terms of risks, counterparty risks, strengthening their risk team, their organisation, and also in terms of managing their cash flow.

How is the microfinance sector doing at the end of 2021?

2020 was a Covid year and the institutions coped, knew how to deal with this systemic crisis. 2021 has been tougher. They had been a little exhausted by this first year of 2020 and they had to pursue their efforts, their resistance. And therefore, the Foundation was indeed able to support these institutions, but some difficult cases appeared for which it was necessary to grant not only deferrals but also restructurings.

It is important to say that the entire microfinance sector, foundations, investment funds, were able to talk to each other to provide the best possible support to the institutions that were experiencing the most significant difficulties. The sector is still resilient. It is an attractive sector. We can say that it has faced this systemic crisis with a resilience that was probably even greater than what we thought.

What is the Foundation’s agenda for 2022?

2022 will be the year of preparation for our 2022-2025 medium-term plan. It will hinge on this climate crisis that is hitting the Foundation’s areas of intervention hard.

Better support rural populations, strengthen their economic resilience, in the aftermath of an extremely serious economic crisis; this will be the first axis on which we will work. And the second one is to support the most vulnerable populations, those who have also suffered from this economic crisis and who need us to be able to support them in accessing financing, in the development of income generating activities. These will be the two pillars of our 2022-2025 medium-term plan.

View the interview here

New Solidarity Bankers mission in South Africa

At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A., Solidarity Bankers is a skills-sponsorship programme open to Crédit Agricole Group employees on behalf of the organisations supported by the Foundation.

A new Solidarity Bankers mission is to be filled in favour of Phakamani Foundation. Phakamani is a microfinance institution that empowers poor women to succeed in microenterprise. Its microentrepreneurial programme is inspired by the Grameen Bank. Its training, group lending and ongoing support system provides both empowerment and practical assistance for microenterprise development.

The institution serves over 35 000 active borrowers, all of them women living in rural areas, and manages a portfolio of €3.1 million. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting Phakamani Foundation in developing a framework and plan to improve risk management.

HOW TO APPLY

To discover the detailed offers of the missions:

  • Go to the CA Solidaires website “Find a project”
  • Enter the search bar: “Grameen”. All the Solidarity Leave offers will appear!
  • Click on the offer of your choice, you will find all the information you need to apply.

More information: carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

___________________________________________________________

Created in 2008, under the joint impetus of the directors of Crédit Agricole S.A. and Professor Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship with a social impact. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.